The Wrap

Welcome back Fantasy Football Managers! Hope you all enjoyed the international break and the one week hiatus that the Guru took? Rumours are abound of trips to Singapore from certain FFM’s, Wiz and Matt Barry included. Nothing escapes the Gurus eyes… especially Juan Mata. We are giving a largetastic shout out to Sam Brunning who, clearly, followed the Guru’s advice (See the Hot or Not section HERE) and bought Mata in… thus exposing his team to the 2 goals and 2 assists haul that the Spaniard has got in the last two gameweeks. Can he keep it up? Despite the tricky fixtures, we think yes. He is IN FORM, and is not picked for the Spain squad… what better way to get some FPL points than expose yourself to a player who is DESPERATE to get into his national side – he will show Del Bosque that he is a big game player with returns against Spurs, Arsenal, Manchester and Liverpool. Buy him now.

Conversely, this entire line is dedicated to slamming and ridiculing Trent Prasser, who, despite receiving some excellent advice re: his purchase of either Hazard or Mata… ended up buying Hazard. And captained Torres. You made the wrong call when it really Mata’d and now you are in a Hazard – that hazard being 6th last. HA!

Elsewhere, despite Spurs losing to Chelsea expect them to bounce back with HUGE wins against Southampton and Wigan. Spurs lost with two of their best players (Bale and Dembele) missing, and their centre half had a crap game. Big deal. On to bigger and better things. Again, if you don’t have Bale you need to buy him. No evading it.

Looking deeper into The Blog FC Cup, a lot of players captained either Cazorla or Podolski. Mike Alderman, Jake Brunning, Mike and Tim Wise (not true to their names), Luke Armour, Joel Serena, Daniel Miladinski, Joel Manns, Mark Mitchell, Marty Loftberg and Tom Mouritz to name a few. They all ended up with zip as Arsenal lost away to Norwich. Maybe it was their 14 minute flight to get to the match (http://bit.ly/TcfxtI WTF!?) or maybe it was the fact they had 14 international players in their team and were absolutely buggered. They do have QPR, Fulham and Aston Villa in the next 5… so keep the faith.

This Month’s Top 5

Zola Golas – Richy Zola – 150 Points

tommythehero – Tom Gorrie – 122 Points

Sporting Maverick – Mark Mitchell – 121 Points

Peanut Butters – Daniel MacDonald – 120 Points

Two Left Feet – Scott Jackson – 117 Points

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Zola Golas being clear at the top for October, is that he had the 9 point scoring Eden Hazard on his bench this week!

Hot or Not

HOT – Leighton Baines. With Liverpool, Fulham, Sunderland, Reading and Norwich coming up in the next five, the Everton left-back looks set to get some goals/assists over the coming weeks. Everton’s form is good and their fixtures are strong. And we all know that form + fixtures = FPL points. Notwithstanding Baines missing his old mate Pienaar for the Merseyside derby due to his horror tackle vs. QPR (see here: http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/everton/144204/football-gif-steven-pienaars-horrendous-red-card-horror-tackle-vs-qpr.html/attachment/pienaar) the Guru firmly believes that Baines is well worth the 7+ investment, especially since many a Gameweek is won or lost on defender differentials. See the Guru’s GW 5 review.

HOT – Stoke players. Take your pick. Crouch, Walters, Etherington, Huth, Begovic, Wilson. All are hot as Stoke entertains Sunderland, QPR, Fulham and Newcastle in the next 8 Gameweeks. While visiting Norwich, West Ham, West Brom and Aston Villa in the same time period. All are extremely winnable games for the Potters, so look for BEGOVIC/Defenders at home; and Crouch/Walters/Wingers away. Definite potential.

HOT/NOT. WARM. PROBABLY COLD. I HAVE NO IDEA – Michu. We recommended three weeks ago to hold onto Michu for his two relatively easy home games vs. Reading and Wigan, and those of you who actually listened were rewarded with two goals from the Spaniard. It feels good to be right! Having said this, the Swansea midfielder/striker/anywhereman is in a bit of a FPL conundrum at the moment. Swansea have very, very tough fixtures ahead of them (City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle, Tottenham aaaaaand Man United in the next 10 game weeks). So points will be hard to come by for the men from Wales… despite this, Michu is currently playing AS THE LONE FRONTMAN in a very fluid (see: no one defend, everyone attack) formation. Midfielder playing up front on his own with shedloads of supply? Tick. If Swansea score/assist/do anything, you can be pretty safely assured that Michu will be involved. He will get points over the next few months, but I’m not sure it might be enough to give him an entire spot on your team – if better players pop up, ditch Michu. But keep otherwise – (see, Hot/Not/Warm/Cold/Who knows).

NOT. Everyone from Liverpool except Raheem Sterling. Seriously people. WHY ARE YOU BUYING LIVERPOOL PLAYERS. Yes, there was a discussion re: Suarez, and yes, he scored alot against Norwich. But other than that big haul one month ago, Liverpool have looked pretty average. Very average. Sterling is OK cause he is decent (and cheap… mostly cheap), but all the Suarez/Gerrard partnerships are dreadful. Suarez price (9.7) is a lot of money to have invested on a player who goes for long, long periods of time without scoring. And I’m especially going to name a few of you that captained Suarez (or worse, Gerrard) for extra shame. The following people, hang your heads: Scott Jackson, Jeremy Glendinning, Chris Schipp, Nathan Alterator, Mark Houston and Tom Gorrie. Tom Gorrie, I don’t expect to see your head up for weeks: you have Suarez, Gerrard AND Sterling. Rubbish, if anyone reads this and sees Tom Gorrie out and about, ridicule him for me. Please. Seriously though, Liverpool have tough fixtures: Everton, Chelsea, Swansea, Tottenham all away. Not alot of FPL points in those for the Reds. Sterling yes, everyone else… NO.

The Crystal (Palace) Ball

Tottenham face Southampton (Away) and Wigan (Home) over the next two weeks. Expect AVB’s charges to bounce back with a brace of wins. Therefore the chances of us seeing Gareth Bale doing the ol’ baby-rocking-goal celebration to mark the birth of his new baby girl? HIGH.